has anyone taken both the NY and NJ bar together? Any tips? suggestions? caveats?

I'm taking both NY and NJ also. From what I hear, the NJ portion of the NJ Bar Exam is only on NJ civil procedure, with the rest being exclusively MBE topics. This is good, cause NY is gonna be a female dog.

i love the way people express outrage/dismay/amusement with certain positions on this, an anonymous website, in the hopes it will positively affect their "reputation score". you can almost hear them pressing the delete key telling themselves "no, no, no if i say it that way i may end up in the negatives". as if a completely arbitrary ranking given by some drone who spends 18 hours a day staring at a computer screen has any meaning.... "not only did i spend 4 years working on the human genome project as a research assistant, i also recieved a ranking of +8 on lsd over the course of 500 posts". to hear some of these future attorneys actually say things like "yeah well i wouldn't take uchi's advice because s/he has a negative ranking" while noisome popinjays who say things like "what good has ever come out of conservatism?" get high marks (gee, let's begin with a little known figure like alexander hamilton the father of american banking and author of many of the federalist papers) is a true scream and brings great credit to this chatroom.

i agree with Jacy - if I could do it again, I would have worked for a year and then gone to law school. Now, having said that, I don't think there is any difference in performance for those going straight from undergrad vs. time off people. A lot of people say, like an above poster, people who take time off are older and therefore take school more seriously. It has been my observation that it really doesn't matter, as far as grades are concerned.

Use the math answer to get a good chuckle to show you have a good sense of humor, and then say "but, in all seriousness, etc etc etc." I agree with the advice to always put a positive spin on it, but it has to be honest and not something stereotypically interviewish. I always said that I was overbearing, and proceeded to talk about how I was probably too attentive in a previous job to the point of annoyance, the idea being that there is no thing as a lawyer that is too attenive.

if its a transactional position say something like "public speaking" - i.e., a weakness that won't be exposed in your new position. You could go with a joke like "interviewing". Sometimes I say "math".

Externing for a judge is a great experience. Highly recommend it. If you're concerned about job opportunities in the future with your current grades, your best attack strategy is to, as others have advised, do all things necessary to work on raising your current GPA and in the meanwhile look into working for a judge. I suggest a Federal Judge if you want to go into Biglaw. A judge will not only increase your research and writing skills, but they will also be able to put you in contact with many other employment opportunities.

We have a MLS program at my school. The guy I know that is in it takes any classes that he wants - i believe he needs 30 or 45 credits (i forget the exact number) to graduate with his MLS. He doesn't take first year classes cause they suck. However, if he did, and then was accepted to the JD program, he could re-use all of his notes.

you should make your decision based on a full year - not one semester. Also, to think that the salary to a person who is barely in the Top 20% would be that much more than a Top 35% grad is asinine. When you are that close to the top, it comes down to how well you interview. I know, you are thinking, well all the job ads say "top 20%" - to follow that is stupid. Firms just put those "guidelines" in so they don't get tons of resumes. If you are close to that benchmark of "top 20%" - and at top 35%, i think you qualify as close - you can still apply for, and possibly get, interviews with lots of those "top 20%" firms.

just my 2 cents - but by the time you read this, you probably will have already withdrawn. and also, to base such a life altering decision on advice from anonymous posters on a message board would be ridiculous - and so i would hope, what anyone said above, didn't change your mind on what you want to do.